Vehicle draft attachment.



110122639. v PATENTED MAR. 10, 1903.

. A.,P. SPEED.

VEHICLE DRAFT ATTACHMENT.

no MODEL.

WITNESSES:

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUSTIN P. SPEED, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

.VEHICLE DRAFT ATTACHMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,639, dated March10, 1903.

Application filed December 13, 1902. Serial No. 135,089. (No model.)

leverage for draft, both for starting the load and also in the normaltravel of the vehicle; and it consists in the novel construction andarrangement of parts which I will now proceed to describe with referenceto the drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view. of ateamdrawn vehicle with my draft attachment shown applied to the same,and Fig. 2 is a modification of the doubletree. 1

In the drawings, A represents'a ratchetring of teeth applied to theinner side of each of the rear wheels a little distance within the rim,so as to be free from contact with mud, and rigidly fixed to the spokesby bolts, clips, or other equivalent connection.

B is an upright lever, fulcrumed at its lower end either to the bolster,as shown, or to the axle and extending above the tops of the rearwheels. There is one of these levers on each side, and each carriesahook-shaped pawl C, which engages with theratchet-ring lying in itsplane. At the upper end of the lever above the pawl there is jointed adraftrod D, which extends forwardly and is connected to the end of thedoubletree E. This doubletree is pivoted above the plane of thewagon-tongue and its platformgear and carries at its outer ends the twosingletrees F. Ordinarily the leverage of a wagon-wheel is from the axleto the ground. With my attachment the extension of lever B above thewheel makes a. greatly-increased leverage whenever the pawl O is engagedwith the circle of ratchet-teeth. It is not to be understood that thisgreater leverage is exercised in a constant pull, for my inventiondepends for its useful efiect upon the vibration of the doubletree aboutits central pivot. With a double team this doubletree vibrates onaccount of the fact that the two horses do not step in unison and do notpull exactly 'in unison, and this makes the doubletree to oscillate orhave a vibratory action about its pivotal center. Thus when the nearhorse starts a littlein advance of the other the pawl on the near sideengages the ratchetring and the near horse has the benefit of theincreased leverage, while the other horse pulls with the ordinaryleverage. Then when the ofi horse moves in advance the end of thedoubletree on his side advances and the pawl on his side catches theratchetteeth and gives to him the benefit of the increased leverage, thenear horse then pulling with only the normal leverage of the wheel. Asone pawl on one side engages and pulls the pawl on the other side movesback over the ring of teeth to catch a new hold, and these teeth are seta distance apart less than the throw given to the pawl by the vibratoryaction of the doubletree.

This attachment, it will be seen, works at close intervals in the normaltravel of the vehicle, and while possessing a value along level roadsand in ordinary travel is specially useful in climbing hills or startingthe wagon or in pulling out of a hole, where the horses rarely start inunison.

I am aware that the leverage exerted on a vehicle-wheel has beenincreased by a ratchetwheel and a lever with a pawl engaging theratchet-wheel,notably in car-starting devices, and I do not claim thisbroadly. I do not know, however, that such levers and pawls have beencombined with a doubletree to be directly and constantly worked by itsoscillation, which gives a very simple and effective means of increasingthe efficiency of a team.

Although I have shown a ratchet and pawl as the preferred form of clutchmechanism between the lever and wheel, it will be understood that anyother clutch mechanism ma be employed.

It will be noticed that in my invention the doubletree is arranged onthe top of the platformgear carrying the tongue. This allows the undergear to have full play without interfering with the motion or positionof the doubletree.

As a modification of my invention I may make the doubletree with anarticulated joint in the middle, as shown in Fig. 2, in which thedoubletree is made in two sections E E swinging about a bolt 8, thatconstitutes the draft attachment to the vehicle. One of thesedoubletree-sections E is extended past the draft-bolt e and has a pin e,that when the draft strain is on and the doubletree is straight, asshown in dotted lines, locks against the other section of thedoubletree, which two sections then become a rigid doubletree. When thetraces are slack,the weight of lever B and pawl 0 draws the doubletreesections to the rear, as shown in full lines, and when in this positionand the team starts forward both sections of the doubletree move forwardand both clutch devices exert a leverage on the two wheels at the sametime.

The levers B may be held to the rear either by their own weight or byapositively-acting device, such as an elastic cord 0, or by any otherdesired means.

In defining my invention with greater clearmess I would state thatlevers with clutch devices for engaging the wheels have been connecteddirectly to the two traces of a single team; but this could not giveoscillation of the kind that comes from the doubletree and a doubleteam, and the normal pull of the traces are through the clutch devices.I am also aware that two draft connections, one for normal pull and theother having a lever and clutch devices for increased leverage instarting, have heretofore been used. In my invention the doubletreeforms the normal draft connection through its center bolt when b'othhorses are pulling equally, and only in an unequal pull and when thedoubletree is escillated do my clutch devices for increased leveragecome into efiect. This makes one 1. A two-horse vehicle having itsdoubletree connected by a central bolt to the running-gear for normaldraft and having its two ends connected by clutch mechanism with bothrear wheels to utilize the movement of the doubletree for increasing thedraft leverage substantially as described.

2. In a two-horse vehicle, the combination with the doubletree and oneof the wheels; of a clutch mechanism arranged to lock with the wheel ata point removed from the hub, alever connected to and operating theclutch mechanism, and a draft attachment connecting the lever to theouter end of the doubletree substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

3. The combination with the oscillating doubletree of a vehicle, havinga central draft attachment to the running-gear, and two of the wheels;of two ratchet-rings attached rigidly to the wheels, pawls engaging saidratchet-rings, levers carrying the pawls, and draft-rods connecting thelevers to the opposite ends of the doubletree substantially as and forthe purpose described.

4:. A two-horse vehicle having a platformgearing and a doubletreepivoted in a plane above said gearing, draft-rods connected to theopposite ends of the doubletree, and two lever clutch mechanismsconnected to and operated by said draft-rods and in turn operating uponthe wheels at or near their peripheries substantially as described.

5. A two-horse vehicle, a doubletree made in.two articulated sections,acentral bolt connecting the same to the running-gear, and two draftconnections having clutch devices for engaging the wheels with anincreased leverage substantially as shown and described.

AUSTIN P. SPEED.

Witnesses:

BRYANT MOCAMPBELL, E. B. KERR.

